Panasonic Viera TH-50PZ85U 50" 1080p Plasma HDTV

The bottom line with this television is the picture. It's fantastic, and it seems clear to me that Panasonic focused very specifically on making the picture as good as it can be while making some calculated sacrifices to make the picture-to-price ratio as high as possible. It's like buying a high performance sports car but without power windows, in an effort to give you the best picture possible at an OUTSTANDING price. As a product designed to deliver a top-tier picture AND have such a low price, it's a brilliant product with a very specific design concept, and to Panasonic's credit, the concept works. The picture is worth every penny.
With that said, the picture is hands-down the best part of the television by comparison. The speakers aren't great, especially at dealing with bass, but by not adding expensive speakers to the television the price is able to be kept very low compared with other televisions in the same size and quality range. There is no internal HD antenna (meaning you won't be able to get any local HD broadcasts without a cable or satellite service), but again this keeps the price lower. The 850U version of this television has a "THX-certified" picture setting, but you do pay for that privelage and that's not to say this television isn't CAPABLE of displaying the same picture, except that it would have to be set manually.
The speakers, however, are definitely the bottleneck for quality on this television. The sound is crisp, but a bit tinny and high in treble. If someone is speaking with a deep voice, the bass on the speakers can make a clinking sound which is noticeable when there is no music. They're not bad speakers, but they're not comparable to the quality of the picture itself. Again, this helps keep the price down, which is great.
To explain, I don't have cable or satellite or any external broadcast---I haven't had cable in three years. But I do like to watch movies and play video games. I have a Playstation 3, and on my old tube television it felt like I was playing Playstation 2.5 instead-----I sometimes couldn't read the instructions on the screen (games and especially Blu Ray menus), and I often couldn't tell the difference between my team and the opposing team in certain games. This Panasonic has absolutely solved those problems, and I finally feel like I'm getting the true performance out of my PS3. I also love to watch movies, and I've rented Blu Rays (with my old cart TV) just for the added features. But now that I've seen Blu Ray movies on my hi-def Panasonic, I realize how just much I was missing. The picture for Blu Ray is exactly what I was hoping to get from this television, and I couldn't be more thrilled about it. I will say that while Blu Ray is true 1080p, all Blu Ray players will also "upscale" any DVD you watch to make it look VERY close to hi-definition. How well the upscaling works depends on the Blu-Ray player rather than the TV, but I want to specifically say how much better my old DVD's look being upscaled on this TV than they ever did before. Sure, they aren't playing in 1080p like a Blu Ray disc, but in many cases I literally can't tell the difference, and simply put this TV paired with my Blu-Ray player has changed the way I watch any DVD or Blu Ray I already own.
With that said, the quality of this screen is so high I can't ignore that the speakers are the outlyer, and I am compelled to get a sound system to match. It's not so much that the speakers are bad (they're clearly better than the speakers on my old tube TV), but rather that the picture is so good it's hard not to notice I'm missing something when I watch Blu Rays in particular. For the record though, this TV is very easy to adapt to an external sound system---it has digital out AND RCA (red/white) out, so it's compatible with any stereo system available and even some computer speakers (or all with a single adapter).

As for the glare, for starters, the glare on this TV is absolutely less than my old tube TV. My tube TV is still next to my new Panasonic in the same room, and it's obvious how much better the glare is on the Panasonic when both TVs are off.
In my living room I notice NO glare on the bezel/frame (which is gorgeous, by the way). I can notice glare on the screen itself when the screen is black or very dark and the room is brightly-lit, but I think the only reason I notice it at all is because I'm actively LOOKING for the glare just because of some of the other reviews here saying the glare is high. I can't say there isn't another television out there with less glare, but let me say this-----I have asked everyone sitting in front of this TV if the glare is a problem, and not a single one of them have said so. Instead, they have commented on how good the picture is, and in particular how "black" the blacks are.
And I think that's where the glare issues in other reviews are coming from. Before buying this TV, my concern was glare vs. black quality-------this TV is supposed to have great blacks, but on any TV glare is easier to notice against a dark image rather than a bright image. After spending so much time with this TV, my advice is this----prioritize on black levels. Dark blacks absolutely make the picture better, and this TV does such a good job with the black levels that I can't fault the set for having any glare. Even if you THINK the lights and windows in your room might put too much glare on this screen, it's absolutely worth the risk, especially at this price, because the image is so good and the glare is very, very low. There is a white banister directly opposite my TV, in a room with 4 windows on 3 different walls-----it basically reflects white "stripes" on the TV from the banister rails. That should be the easiest thing to see reflected on any screen, and while I CAN see the banister if I look specifically during dark scenes, I simply can't complain about the glare. I think Panasonic did a great job with the anti-glare on this screen, and I'm not sure what screen someone would want if they dislike this screen enough to label it "intolerable."

The supplemental features of this television are great too. The remote's ability to link with other components is clever, and the remote itself is teriffic-----it has Blu-Ray-specific "color" buttons so if you decide to get (or already have) a Blu-Ray player this remote will be able to do it all; something I couldn't do with my old TV's remote. I really like having a dedicated button on the remote to control the zoom or aspect ratio of the screen, a very nice touch, and the channel and volume controls are contoured/curved.
Also all of the plugs, ports, and buttons (aside from power) are hidden from view when watching television. The SD card slot and manual channel/volume/menu buttons are tucked behind the right side of the TV, which makes the TV have a much cleaner "neat" design when viewed from the front, and the sides curve inwards toward the back. I've eaten burgers thicker than this television---it's amazing how much picture comes from such a thin set. The fans along the back side of the set are strong enough to be felt with your bare hand but are remarkably quiet----they won't interfere with watching television, and in fact I can only hear them when the sound is muted and I'm standing near the set itself (within a foot or so, a distance I would never watch the TV from).
The power button on the front of the TV actually rests along the front of the frame itself at the bottom edge, which I've never seen in a TV before----it's virtually invisible, flush/even with the frame of the TV. There is a small red light on the power button on the front of the TV, which some may notice when watching TV, and you can't disable the light in case you are wondering. The ONLY time I notice that light is when I turn off my Playstation 3 before turning off the TV------the screen is completely black, and it's so dark it actually looks like the TV is off. That red light helps me remember to turn the TV off, and it doesn't interfere at all with watching movies or playing games.

There is also a VGA port for connecting my laptop or any PC (there is no DVI slot, but many computers today have HDMI output, and you can buy a DVI adapter regardless). I thought that was a nice "bonus" feature, but now I actually use it and it's terrific. I run it at a resolution of 1280x800 (which is less than 1080p but my laptop can't output 1080p) and there is no lag, the picture is great, and it's worth it to play games on a 50-inch screen.

Another feature the TV has is anti-image retention, with 2 separate features to deal with the threat of burn-in. When part of an image sits too long on a screen, it can "burn-in" to the screen. Like, if you're at your computer right now, the very bottom of your screen has a task bar, start button, etc, and that image is probably always there, and that could be burnt-in. Plasmas used to have problems with burn-in even when they cost over $30,000 for a smaller set than this.

But I have not seen ANY burn-in whatsoever. I have seen the anti-image-retention feature turn on twice on my TV, and I don't even think it was necessary but it did make me feel good that the TV is aware enough to prevent any damage. From what I've seen and from the other reviews, if burn-in is a fear of yours about plasma TVs, you don't need to worry about burn-in with this TV. Even during the first 100 hours of watching this TV you may have read about being careful about what you watch and for how long, but I have watched entire movies in letterbox and after 2 hours saw no image retention at all. The feature seems to know what it's doing----let the TV worry about the image-retention, because it's not worth worrying about, especially if that's why you are considering anything other than a plasma.

Something else I wanted to mention is the refresh rate. My brother has a 1080p 65-inch DLP, and we've played games like Rock Band on it with my PS3 through HDMI. But there was a problem with "lag" which we could never get quite right with the calibration options-----the audio and video signals were off just enough to make playing the game more difficult than it should be. But on my Panasonic Viera, there is no lag whatsoever and I have no had to calibrate the game to the set at all. It works perfectly, right out of the box so to speak, and that's all thanks to the high refresh rate.

The delivery was amazing. I ordered the television six days before Christmas. Amazon said the TV wouldn't even begin to ship until today at the earliest (Dec 29, 08), but it began the shipping process the same day. Within 24 hours Pilot called me to schedule an appointment for Dec 23rd between noon and 1 PM. They arrived at noon. Two men brought the TV inside, set up the stand (you WILL need two people to set the TV on the stand), plugged it in, tested it (note they couldn't do the FULL test because I don't have cable or satellite), asked me to inspect it myself, and finally asked me to sign for it. I kept the box just in case, but they would have taken the box with them (and now I almost wish they would have because the TV is definitely not going anywhere and is working perfectly). It took less time to get this TV from Dallas, Texas to South Carolina than it took to get two movies from Cincinnati to a suburb 40 miles north----the delivery was amazing, and I was the most worried about the delivery rather than glare or the speakers or screen. I would order another television this way too----I saved money by ordering from Amazon, and having it delivered to my home was fantastic.


The bottom line is I wanted the best picture I could get. Plasma simply gives you the best picture compared to LCD or DLP, especially when it comes to the blacks, and again, the blacks do matter for the best image quality. If you want the best picture, you want plasma. If you want a "better" picture than this TV, you'll have to spend almost twice as much. But the picture quality is SO good on this TV, I would rather have two of this TV than bragging rights and a marginal upgrade in quality. What Panasonic has done with this TV isn't simply about the picture quality, but it's also about the price, and I believe they have managed to make the best-looking television on the market, dollar-for-dollar. The same TV is available in 5 different sizes, and I think that shows Panasonic's commitment to this product line and how aware they are of its value, especially with an outstanding viewing life of 100,000 hours. Delivery was a breeze, the price on Amazon was lower than anywhere else, and while the speakers aren't as good as the screen itself, I can't pretend the speakers don't help keep this TV even more affordable and I couldn't be more pleased with the television itself. I give this TV 5 stars because, dollar-for-dollar, it doesn't get any better than this.

Ok here's the deal. This tv is a steal. It also has one of the best pictures in plasma tv's, and that's without calibration. This glare reviews are dumb. Unless you have the attention span of a poodle then the glare will definately distract from M O T I O N P I C T U R E. Lets get real. I have this tv in my living room with 2 windows and a screen door in one of the sunniest cities in the US, LV. I have no problems. You might want to get on.

I read all the reviews regarding Samsung plasma and Panasonic. I decided to go with the TH-50PZ85U. For color accuracy, the Samsung is better. For "blackness" the Pana is better. I do not care for the "red" touch on the Samsung "650" series. The sound is better on the Samsung but if you have surround sound system, it should not matter. I picked the Pana due to the "black level", less heat emission, and the reliability of the Pana. You really can not go wrong with either one. Final decision is base on certain preference. My previous plasma is a Pana and it never give me any trouble for 2 1/2 years now.

This product has very stable performance.
I can see clearly HD programs.
I enjoy pro sports especially NFL very much.
If you look for new TV, I recommend this one.

I've been spending a lot of my time researching, researching, and researching for the best TV out there on the market to haul in the best value. This TV hands down is the one! First and foremost this TV is 50" and its huge. The clarity of the picture is awesome and I am able to watch sports, along with any fast action movie with no problems. Panasonic has made a great plasma TV here, so if you're looking for the all around best TV for your family room, this TV is the one for you. Along with getting it at this price, is an awesome bargain. I've told all my friends about this TV and they can't believe I got it for this great price. If you're looking for something a little smaller, they also carry a 42" TV plasma, which I would suggest you get this plasma brand ASAP before they are gone. Please note that most plasma's run at about 480Hz so, do not be fooled in buying a 120Hz TV if you're going to watch sports or fast action movies, PLASMA is the way to go.